Pro tip: using a chopstick to clean stone tools saved my hands

I kept cutting my fingers trying to get dirt out of tiny grooves on flint scrapers from a site in Texas, so I grabbed a chopstick from my takeout and it worked way better than any brush I tried. Has anyone else found weird tools that work for cleaning artifacts?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_derek6d ago

Grab a chopstick, a paperclip, whatever works honestly. Realized most of my best tool finds came from the kitchen drawer, tried a wooden skewer for getting dirt off a small axe head and it worked perfectly. Tbh the whole "use the right tool" mentality is overrated when you can just adapt random stuff from around the house.

christopher_west16d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah honestly that's the thing, you'd be surprised how often a random kitchen utensil works better than something from a hardware store. I've used a butter knife to pry open more paint cans than I can count, works just as good as an actual paint can opener. The trick is knowing which things hold up under pressure, like a wooden skewer is great because it's firm but won't scratch anything. Plastic chopsticks work for cleaning out tight spaces too, they're bendy enough to get into weird spots without snapping. Just be careful with stuff like paperclips if you're prying something heavy, they can snap and fly off pretty easy. End of the day, if it gets the job done without breaking half your stuff, it's the right tool lol.